NBA Baseline: End of Hunter era doesn’t seem far off

It no longer seems possible for Billy Hunter to emerge from the All-Star Weekend meeting of the NBPA’s player representatives with his job intact.

Placed on indefinite leave of absence Friday, the union’s executive director is on thin ice with the players. Some of them, like Celtics star Paul Pierce and the Nets’ Kris Humphries, already have made it clear they favor his dismissal.

Hunter, 70, has been the union’s executive director since 1996. He came under fire from union president Derek Fisher last spring for questionable business practices and nepotism, documented recently in an audit by a New York law firm.

Spurs forward Matt Bonner, a member of the union’s executive committee that voted to suspend Hunter, has declined to comment. Fisher issued a statement Friday that concluded with “immediate change is necessary.”